HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Economic Development Committee - 10/10/2023
South Burlington Economic Development Committee
Room #301 at 180 Market St
South Burlington, VT 05403
MINUTES of the Committee meeting on October 10, 2023, in Room 301 of City Hall, 180
Market Street, South Burlington, in person and remotely.
Members present: Tom Bailey, John Burton, Mike Scanlan, Michael Biama, Sriram Srinivasan
and Charlie Johnston attended in person.
Members absent: Ken Linge
Others in attendance: Jessie Baker, City Manager and Tim Barritt, City Counselor, attended in
person. Mads Almassalkhi, Director of Control and Optimization of Renewable Energy (CORE)
Systems Lab at the University of Vermont was in attendance as a guest.
Tom Bailey called the meeting to order at 5:00 PM and proceeded to address the items on the
agenda.
1. Welcome, agenda review and approval
2. Presentation and questions on proposed amendment to South Burlington Sign Ordinance
• Discussion regarding the benefits to business especially on Market Street
• John mentioned that the SBBA would be discussing the amendment.
3. Welcome of Guest: Mads Almassalkhi introduced himself followed by introductions of
all the members of the Committee along with Tim Barritt and Ilona Blanchard.
4. Discussion with Guest: Interacting with the Committee members, Mads comments are
summarized as follows:
• What is the % of solar energy within Vermont
o Vermont for the first time exported solar energy
o Vermont estimated needs 1 GW of peak power
o Solar is approximately 15% annual electricity
o O’Brien is combining solar, storage, and other efficient systems. “Micro
girds”
• Regulation to create Micro-Grids?
o Ordinances for new developments could be a possible way to ensure
homes are solar ready.
o Some minimums of commercial spaces to produce solar energy.
• Net-Zero?
o Goal is to be Annually Net-Zero compared to every minute
o Some communities are maxed out, i.e. homes are producing more energy
than needed in the community and electricity is not being distributed out
of the neighborhood.
• Does a Micro-Grid community help affordable housing?
o Difficult to answer. New development that includes solar power often is
more expensive, O’Brien development likely not considered affordable.
o Community Choice Aggregators, i.e. buying and selling power produced
in the community.
o CO2 taxes to offset cost for renewable power
• Discussed resilience with stored power
• Discussed other solar technology than the large solar panels
• Discussed other power generation sources such as wind
• Discussed resiliency with burying lines, GMP news to invest in resiliency
• Discussed how researching energy sheds, areas that produce and use local power
5. Discussed Working Group:
• Working on Work Plan to make the Economic Strategy Plan
• More to come in another meeting
• Buy-in beyond EDC, SBBA
• Hold meetings to gather information from local businesses and community
• Hire a local Economist
6. Member Reports: Mike Scanlan described his work so far with the GMT board.
7. Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 6:30 PM.